Ged Carroll

Matthew Niederhauser on Chinese hip-hop

Published: (Updated: ) in china | 中國 | 중국 | 中華, culture | 文明 | 미디어와 예술 | 人文 by .

The estimated reading time for this post is 82 seconds

Really interesting film on Chinese hip-hop with Matthew Niederhauser. Niederdauser is a polyglot: an artist, photojournalist and documentary maker.  His plied his trade in China as photojournalist and had explored high-speed China’s urban development.

Matthew Niederhauser realised that the development wasn’t just about infrastructure but the myriad personal stories. Some of the personal stories of the under class revolved around a new culture. The cultural change involved the nascent rap scene. This was frowned up by the authorities, seen as little better than gangsterism.

Western culture is viewed with suspicion by the authorities, as are tattoos and graffiti art.

Issues coming out in songs on CDs. They seem surprisingly tame next to gangster rap, but China wouldn’t tolerate anything else. Instead the lyrics speak to the pressure cooker environment of Chinese society:

Live battles:


The video is on YouTube which may not be able to be viewed by some readers